Porrentruy, its caves and the Jura plateau out to the border
Ajoie is the north-western tip of the Swiss Jura, an open plateau that slopes down towards France and that you reach from Delémont over the col des Rangiers. Porrentruy is its centre: a castle on the rock, a compact old town you can walk across in twenty minutes, and the Jurassica Muséum with its botanical garden, where children go from fossils to tropical greenhouses without ever getting restless. The region suits days built in two halves, a visit in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. Porrentruy has two of them, the indoor Les Tilleuls for the cold months and a large open-air pool for summer, while Boncourt keeps its own at the far end of the valley. Fifteen minutes away, the grottes de Réclère and their Préhisto-Parc are still the outing that marks children aged five to ten the most, at a steady 8 degrees even in a heatwave.
Everything to do with your kids in the region. Tell us the constraint of the day and we will show you what fits.
Getting there, weather, ages, budget: the answers before you go.
From Basel or Biel you change at Delémont, then the train follows the valley to Porrentruy and Boncourt, with a stop at Courgenay. By car, the A16 Transjurane links Delémont to Porrentruy through the Mont Russelin and Mont Terri tunnels. CarPostal buses take over for the villages and for Réclère.
Good to know: Porrentruy station is a five-minute walk from the old town and ten minutes from the open-air pool. A day here works perfectly well without a car.
Porrentruy's old town is flat and largely pedestrian, easy to cover with a pushchair from start to finish. The Jurassica botanical garden has shade, benches and smooth paths, handy for a break between two visits. The indoor pool Les Tilleuls has a warm basin, useful on grey days. The grottes de Réclère, on the other hand, mean carrying the youngest: stairs, damp air and close to an hour underground.
Porrentruy castle and its tour Réfous are visible from far off and give the best view over Ajoie. The Jurassica Muséum fills a whole morning with its Jurassic fossils and its garden. And in summer the open-air pool in Porrentruy works as the family meeting point, with wide lawns for spreading a blanket for the afternoon. Further north, the piscine des Hémionées in Boncourt stays quieter on busy days, and both towns keep their pools within walking distance of the station, which makes a car-free day simple.
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